Uglier than the prospect of playing the 2013 season with a quarterback (Max Wittek) who looked completely lost in two starts, or a true freshman quarterback (Max Browne)?

“Any time you have a bad season,” Kiffin says, “there are going to be job security questions.”

The coach who really can’t afford another mistake last week strolled into a post-recruiting press conference and left little doubt that more are on the way.

He talked about a lack of commitment from high school players, and how the media—that’s right, the media—and the glorification of National Signing Day are to blame for prep stars changing their minds. Imagine that, the guy whose coaching reputation is media-fueled—because it sure isn’t results-fueled—is blaming the one thing that has kept him afloat in a cutthroat business where those lacking are quickly weeded out.

How else do you think he got the Oakland Raiders job; a job Al Davis wanted to give to Steve Sarkisian, but Sark turned him down and offered up his pal Kiffin—whose coaching resume wasn’t remotely worthy.

How else do you think Kiffin got the Tennessee job after imploding in less than two seasons in the NFL? The Vols, desperate and embarrassed by the painful firing of Phil Fulmer, turned to the guy whose resume wasn’t remotely worthy—and who had failed spectacularly in his only head-coaching job.

How else do you think Kiffin got the USC job, after racking up multiple NCAA violations in just 14 months at Tennessee and not winning a game of significance? Beleaguered Trojans athletic director Mike Garrett couldn’t get anyone else to take the job of leading a program staring down the barrel of significant NCAA sanctions, so he called Kiffin and the coach now complaining about commitment and the media’s penchant to glorify was gifted one of the top five jobs in college football.

For his ability to recruit elite players, and then eventually go 32-19 (25-13 at USC) in four seasons as a college coach?

For his ability to create an atmosphere of pushing the envelope to gain a competitive advantage, one that may have indirectly played a part in a student manager at USC letting air out of game balls (easier to throw and catch)—and one that definitely included sending co-eds with signs to a high school football game to help recruit while at Tennessee?

For his ability to manage a roster? When it was all going down last week; when a once heralded class had dwindled to 13 (with 18 to give), Kiffin said he decided to stand on that number and not offer scholarships to “five more bodies.” In the next breath, he said USC failed last year because it wasn’t tough enough, and that practices this spring and fall will be physical and demanding—even at the cost of injuries (see: five more bodies).

For his ability to skulk along the sidelines on game day, his face planted deep in his play-call sheet while Waterloo is unfolding all around him? He had all those reasons while he walked around the Sun Bowl with a black parka on, hood over his head and sunglasses hiding his eyes.

You don’t think his team saw that; fed off that? You don’t think players sensed the season had tanked and it’s cold and miserable and they want out and you want out and let’s just get back to Los Angeles and start over?

So they fought in the postgame locker room after scoring seven lousy points on a Georgia Tech team with one of the worst defenses in the nation. Meanwhile, in the postgame press conference, Kiffin boldly said his goal was to bring home the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the nation.

On the day that recruiting class barely stayed in the top 20, Kiffin bragged that his class of 13 was better than anyone else’s 13. Suddenly, I had a flashback to last summer, when Kiffin was saying his 75-man roster was better than anyone else’s 85.

“Sometimes when you go big-game fishing, you’re not going to get a lot of them,” Kiffin said. “But you’re going to get some really big prizes.”